Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Hussain Syed directed the DCs and other focal persons at the defunct town municipal administration that they should ensure the complete restoration of law and order.

KARACHI:

A meeting of the newly appointed Karachi commissioner and deputy commissioners (DCs) was held on Tuesday at the commissioner’s office to determine jurisdictions of five districts.

It was decided that the jurisdiction of District South would comprise Saddar, Lyari and Jamshed towns, District Central will comprise Liaquatabad, North Karachi, Gulberg and North Nazimabad while District Malir will encompass Malir, Gadap and Ghazi Brohi union council and Jaffer Tayyar. The jurisdiction of District East will cover Shah Faisal Colony, Landhi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Korangi and some part of Malir while Baldia, SITE and Orangi and some parts of Gadap will come under District West.

Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Hussain Syed directed the DCs and other focal persons at the defunct town municipal administration that they should ensure the complete restoration of law and order, since the security situation in the city is the current administration’s top priority.

The commissioner urged the officers to diligently perform municipal affairs, especially tasks related to sanitation — lifting and getting rid of garbage at landfill sites etc — and he stressed that emergency services, fire brigades and medical institutions should continue their work as before.

The officials decided during the meeting that DC offices are going to be set up at the same locations as they were in 2001, and that offices of district municipal corporations will also be set up at their old premises.

The administrators also stressed that the cleaning of graveyards on the eve of Shab-e-Barat will be a prioritised task and that garbage lifted from five districts will be shifted to landfill sites and graffiti and banners will be removed.

Mukarram Bukhari, the former coordination officer to the former Karachi DCO, said that since no officer was appointed to preside over the ongoing transition period, the change has not been smooth.

He suggested that municipal officers use their personal contacts in order to pay for the diesel.

When asked, he said that he would ensure the settlement of the bills. He said that this uncertainty would continue till the appointment of an administrator for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

Government has done an excellent job by restoring the commissioner system. Now, district administration can run more smoothly than before as commissioners are better trained and taught on the lines of public administration than the so called nazims of the dictator’s era.

But government should appoint experienced officers as Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners. Currently, junior rankers are appointed as commissioners and deputy commissioners. So government should replace them with CSP/DMG officers.